EMCC tips off postseason play with 80-73 win over reigning state champ Pearl River in MACJC Basketball Tournament

FULTON – With five players scoring in double figures, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College claimed an 80-73 victory over reigning state champion Pearl River Community College during Monday's quarterfinals of the MACJC State Basketball Tournament being held at the Davis Event Center on the Itawamba Community College campus.

Seeded fourth out of the MACJC's North Division, the 18-6 EMCC Lions will now face Southwest Mississippi during Wednesday's semifinal-round tournament action at 3 p.m.  The SMCC Bears, seeded third out of the MACJC's South Division, were 86-80 first-round winners over No.  2 MACJC North seed Northwest Mississippi.

With their top two scorers on the year, Jahyde Gardiner and Daniel Simmons, both saddled with two early first-half fouls, the Lions received a dozen points apiece from starter Juan Davis Jr. and Montrael Nabors off the bench during the opening 20 minutes of play.  Between them, Davis and Nabors were a combined 10-of-14 from the field in the first half, as EMCC battled through seven deadlocks to take a slim 39-38 halftime lead.

Following intermission, the first seven minutes of the second stanza featured eight lead changes and three more ties before the Lions gained a little breathing room with consecutive three-point plays from Simmons and Anterio McKines.  EMCC then proceeded to extend its lead by hitting from the outside with a trio of 3-pointers during a five-minute stretch that helped lengthen the margin to 13 points (74-61) with six minutes remaining in the contest.

At that point, Pearl River's full-court pressure defense forced four straight EMCC turnovers to get back into the contest.  Capped by a banked 3-pointer by Jeffery Spence, the Wildcats reeled off nine unanswered points to cut the deficit to four points (74-70) with 4:15 left in the game.

For the next couple of minutes with the game on the line, the scoring stalled as the two teams exchanged turnovers.  However, down the stretch for the Lions, Gardiner, a Tennessee-Martin signee, came through in the clutch by converting a put-back basket, two free throws and a baseline jumper that basically sealed the victory for EMCC.

Fresh from his first collegiate double-double of 21 points and a career-high 15 rebounds during last Thursday's "Sophomore Night" performance against Northwest Mississippi, West Point's Davis finished with a team-high 18 points to begin postseason play.  Simmons and Nabors followed with 14 points apiece, while Gardiner and Nat Davis added 13 and 10 points, respectively, in the winning effort. 

Pearl River, this year's MACJC South Division regular-season champion, fell to 15-8 with the loss.  The Wildcats were powered by Wichita State signee Darrlyn Willis, who totaled 29 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and a perfect 13-of-13 from the charity stripe.  The Madison, Wisconsin product also had 15 rebounds and three blocks.  Spence was PRCC's other double-digit scorer with 14 points.

All EMCC games during this week's ICC-hosted MACJC State Basketball Tournament, including Tuesday's 3 p.m. women's quarterfinal-round contest pitting head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions against 23^rd-ranked East Central, will be live-streamed online at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live.  In addition, all tournament games will be streamed live on LetsGoICCTV.com.